Author marketing: the power of a book review
Author marketing: don’t underestimate the power of a good book review
How many books have you bought and read on the strength of a recommendation from someone you know? A lot of people find their next read via word of mouth, and as such, a good review can help generate sales of your book.
In today’s article, we look at how to get your book noticed by book reviewers.
What are the benefits of book reviews?
Book reviews can not only directly generate more sales but they also have the power to widen the reach of your book online, offering more exposure to you, the author, with the prospect of opening other avenues such as guest speaking on the topic of your book.
In terms of being found online, the more book reviews you have, the more visible it will be in the search engines.
Amazon, as an example, has several algorithms (rather complicated calculations used to rank something online to make it more visible to the right people) which use book reviews to decide whether your book should be at the top of its website or buried way back on, say, page 7 of the site.
Let’s face it: when you’re buying a book or any product online for that matter, how many people really look beyond the first few pages?
So, if you have a lot of people reviewing your book, it’s more likely to pop up on someone’s recommended reading list or at the top of the page when they’re searching for similar books.
In turn, because of this algorithm, the more times it pops up in a search, the more searchable it will be.
Book reviews aren’t limited to online only.
A book review in your local newspaper can be highly useful, too, and help to generate sales. Additionally, reviews in national newspapers such as The Guardian’s massively popular Books section can bring very welcome extra publicity both for you and the book.
Ultimately, the benefit of a good book review, online or otherwise, is simple: the more people who read and critique your book (hopefully kindly), the more chance you have to sell it.
Book reviews form a key part of an author’s marketing strategy.
How to get your book reviewed
Online book reviews
For online book reviews, spend a little time researching book reviewers and book clubs, paying particular attention to the type of books the reviewer has a preference for – you’re more likely to receive a positive review if your book’s the sort of read they enjoy.
Next, we’ll look at a few options for finding someone to review your book.
Amazon book reviews
Getting reviews from genuine readers on Amazon will drive your book sales.
Amazon is where most of your book sales will come from. The power of this platform for authors can’t be understated; after all, it’s the biggest online retailer of books not only in the UK but worldwide.
Let’s put it into context: while it’s difficult to obtain exact figures on the overarching picture of Amazon’s book sales, historical estimates suggest that Amazon holds the largest share of books sold on the internet in the UK.
These estimates put Amazon’s slice of the online book market in the range of 70%, and approximately 20% of the total book market, which includes, for example, sales from High Street bookshops.
How to:
To find a reviewer on Amazon, try searching for similar books to your own. Alongside each review is the profile of the person who wrote it. Click on the profile and you’ll sometimes be able to find their contact details easily. If not, use the information to dig deeper online and find contact information or social media profiles.
Fire off a polite email or direct message introducing your book, and ask if they’ll review it.
Online book clubs
Online book clubs are where your potential readers hang out online, and as such, a review from a book club can really help increase awareness of your book and has the ability to generate a large volume of sales for your book.
The more followers an online book club has, the larger is the potential audience for your new book.
How to:
You can search for book clubs online. Here are a couple of suggestions to get your started:
- Rebel Book Club (specifically for non-fiction titles)
- Ladies lit squad
- Salon London
Unfortunately, many of the book clubs you can find online focus on fiction. However, for non-fiction, you can start with some of the online book clubs above – in particular Rebel Book Club – and seek out a reviewer who’s open to receiving a book on the topic you’ve written about.
Tip:
don’t forget to contact local book clubs and reading groups, too. This is part of the networking you should do as an author, and can turn up new opportunities for promoting your book within your community.
Book blogs
Book bloggers can be a very valuable resource. The most popular of them boast followers sometimes numbering in the tens of thousands, and if they like your book you may also be able to work with them on book promotion, such as book reveals and contests for their followers.
Some of book bloggers offer free book reviews; others might charge a small fee.
How to:
You can find directories of book blogs online like this one at The Empowered Author.
Try searching for book blogs using an internet search. Contact the blogs that are most relevant to the book you’ve published.
When asking a blogger to review your book, be sure to do your research about the blog and speak courteously to the blog owner or administrator – perhaps even telling them something you like about their blog, to break the ice.
A good relationship with book bloggers can make all the difference to your book sales.
Book sites/portals
Just like book blogs, book sites can be very rewarding for authors looking for a review or some additional exposure.
The best of them include:
- LoveReading
- Book Hub
- LibraryThing
- Goodreads
How to:
A search of each site will reveal the names of the people most likely to pick up your book for review – simply look for books along the same themes as your own.
Book reviewers could turn out to be your best friends over the course of your writing career, so keep your queries short and try to find the balance between professionalism and a friendly tone of voice.
Mainstream media reviews
Reviews published in traditional newspapers – the biggest ones, at least – as well as specialist publications such as The Bookseller have a great deal of authority amongst some of your most important readers: librarians and booksellers.
One of your first ports of call is your local newspaper. A local newspaper may have in the region of tens of thousands of readers, depending on the size of the area it covers, so there’s a lot of potential reach for your book.
What’s more, readers are more willing to look favourably on, and be interested in, an author from their own community.
Contacting your local newspaper first and getting your community on side can boost your confidence when contacting the national press.
National newspapers and professional book critics, of course, have a far greater reach.
We’ll talk more about this in the next section.
How to:
The best way to go about getting a review in your local newspaper is to find out the name of its features editor as they’re the most likely to handle book reviews. Their name may appear at the front of the paper or within the features section.
Direct an email to them, describing your book and a little bit about yourself. Keep it short and sweet as editors are highly time-pressured folk!
Apply the same approach when it comes to contacting national newspapers. If you can’t find a direct contact, call the switchboard and ask for the person most likely to handle your query.
Professional book critics
Getting a professional critic to rate your book is highly competitive and only the most outstanding newcomers will be featured on their must-read list. You should also be realistic about what they might say about your book.
That aside, this can ramp up awareness about your book and is worth the effort of pitching your book to the critics.
The biggest book clubs use professional critics rather than your average everyday lover of books.
An example of this is The Guardian’s book club, which is hugely popular with readers, and the books featured there may well go on to become top-selling titles.
Obtaining good review from The Guardian is worth its weight in gold in terms of the impact it can have on your book sales.
The Guardian isn’t alone in this; many of the biggest national newspapers have a lot of clout in the reading world when it comes to book reviews.
These reviews, however, are often reserved for authors who are already established, except for those considered to be the most outstanding works.
How to:
You can email digital copies of your book to the national publication of your choice, or you can send copies by post with a short-handwritten note.
Often, a reviewer or critic will have a favoured method of receiving the book – either through the post or via email – so find out if they have any rules first, as you need to make a good impression from the outset.
When you email them, include in the subject line “Review Request” and your name, to make it easier for the reviewer to identify your message amongst the many, many requests that they receive.
Be sure to sell your book!
Editors have to handle countless requests for book reviews every single day; try to put into words why yours should be the book that they pick up to read.
Considering the power of a good book review, this is a relationship that you should try to nurture.
Tip: remember that the biggest physical book clubs will also have a presence online – so you can kill two birds with one stone!
Book reviews vs Advanced Reader Copies
Getting book reviews is slightly different from sending out advanced reader copies of your book.
Sending out advanced reader copies (ARCs) can create some buzz around your book if you go about it in the right way.
With ARCs, as well as sending the book to your nearest and dearest, you can identify someone with a special interest in the topic of your book, for instance, an expert in that field, and send them a copy of it, hot off the press. Some people like to send copies to people who have been heavily involved in the production of the book, such as the editor.
You can also ask them to contribute an intro to the book; if the individual is influential within the topic of your book, this can add gravitas and may influence sales amongst others in the field.
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Questions about publishing your book? Need help editing so it’s ready to send out to reviewers? Contact our friendly team for advice at info@wellnessbooks.co.uk.